The past several years have seen near exponential increases in the performance, speed, integration density, and capacity of computer systems. These improvements coupled with the decrease in costs for computer systems, have resulted in more expansive utilization of computer systems the development of more sophisticated and resource intensive computer applications. According to recent historical trends, application memory requirements double yearly. Although the costs for computer systems and components has steadily declined in recent years, high speed RAM memory utilized in system main memory and cache memories remains one of the highest cost components within most computer systems.
System and cache memories, used primarily for the temporary storage of data, application software and operating system software, are also being utilized within more sophisticated multiprocessor systems for the storage of parity bits, cache coherency state information, and error detection and/or correction syndrome bits. These additional memory requirements of multiprocessor systems, and the higher memory demands of advanced operating systems and applications, result in an increased demand, and cost, for high speed RAM.
More efficient methods for utilizing high speed system and cache memory, and for reducing system and cache memory requirements, are desired.